Trump Welcomes Artemis II Astronauts to Oval Office

President Donald Trump welcomed the four astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission to the Oval Office on April 29, 2026, to celebrate their historic flight around the moon's far side, the farthest journey from Earth by humans since the Apollo era.

The crew, Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, all from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency, launched aboard the Orion spacecraft on April 1. They traveled more than 1 million kilometers, looping twice around Earth before flying within 6,400 kilometers of the lunar surface and splashing down off the San Diego coast on April 10. Trump praised their courage during the event, which included NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. "It takes people like this to make our country great," Trump said. He joked about his own fitness for spaceflight, adding, "I'm physically very, very good," and asked Isaacman if a president could join a mission.

The meeting highlighted the Artemis program's progress. Initiated by Space Policy Directive-1 in Trump's first term, the initiative aims to return humans to the moon as a precursor to Mars exploration. Isaacman confirmed Artemis...